Tales from the Shed.
Not gonna lie; my mum's shed is my new favourite hangout.
Friends! Hi!
We're still alive over here, in case you were wondering.
My mum's been away for the past week, visiting a friend in Halifax, and witnessing the mother of all snowstorms, and I've been holed up at home, by myself, Jackson Pollock-style (minus the binge drinking), trying to get stuff done, and burning through the stash of firewood like nobody's business.
This is certainly an adventure, there's no doubt about it. There was a jpeg in my Facebook newsfeed the other day about the creative process. It was a list of the different phases most people go through when they create something, and it was something like: "This is awesome/This is tricky/This is shit/I'm shit/This might be OK/This is awesome", which pretty accurately describes the past few weeks, and, probably, every creative endeavour I've ever taken on. I guess my feeling is, if I'm not unsure/scared/doubtful, at least some of the time, I'm probably not trying hard enough. Still, those this-is-shit/I'm-shit phases are HARD! They sure can take a little toll on one's self-esteem (and by "one's" what I really mean is "my"), not to mention patience, and, yet, we need them to move forward, and to grow.
In the past months, I've spent a lot of time on things that didn't end up amounting to anything. At least, not in the obvious ways I'd hoped they would. I don't mean to say that there haven't been lots of great moments, but there have been frustrating ones as well. Many this-is-shit/I'm-shit moments. But, now that I'm a bit further down the line, I can see how all of those tiny failures did, in fact, serve me. Every so-called failed project has helped me recognize what wasn't working/what I didn't like, and got me one step closer to the projects that did work. And somewhere in there is a (cheesy yet possibly accurate) metaphor for life.
In other, less self-helpy news, I've set up a mailing list, which you can sign up for on the blog page/this page if you feel so inclined. Also, and you may know this already but, if you'd like to be kept up to speed on our news, you can follow us on Facebook. I post links to all new blog posts there as well. And, lastly, for good measure, we're on Instagram.
That's it for now, friends! I hope you're all having a good/this-is-awesome week, and, if you're in the Maritimes, hang in there!